Printers Stung by Attacks

NEW YORK—The worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in the history of this young country left more than 6,500 people missing and presumed dead, reduced a pair of 110-story skyscraper buildings to an unimaginable pile of twisted metal and human debris, and left many Americans feeling more vulnerable than they had ever thought possible.

The multi-pronged terrorist attack of September 11 was unfathomable: four airliner hijackings, two of which resulted in collisions with the World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third that left a large cavity in the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Fortunately, it appears passengers thwarted a fourth kamikaze mission aimed at Washington, forcing down the plane some 80 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Printer Perishes
It has been learned that a passenger on one of the planes was Doug Stone, co-owner of Odyssey Press, a book printing specialist in Dover, NH.

At press time, President Bush and the U.S. government had identified Saudi national Osama bin Laden at the core of a loosely connected network of terrorist groups responsible for the acts. Bush has promised Americans that bin Laden and those responsible for the spread of terrorism will be brought to justice, a campaign many observers predict will take several years to accomplish.

The recovery process—physically, emotionally, psychologically and economically—will likely take months and years as opposed to days and weeks. New York area printers have found that just getting to work, let alone functioning on a quasi-normal basis, is an arduous task.

R.R. Donnelley Financial, located at 75 Park Place, across the street from the World Trade Center 7 building, reported that all of its 400 employees had been accounted for within several days, according to Vera Panchak, director of corporate communications. She noted that management teams personally called each employee to verify they were safe, communicate the toll-free number for operations updates and offer the services of the company’s Employee Assistance Program.